


Sour Grapes

by marshmallons



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Drama & Romance, Explicit Sexual Content, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prideshipping, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 07:26:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16090850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marshmallons/pseuds/marshmallons
Summary: It had been a painful, messy breakup one year prior. It would be a painful, messy reunion too.[Prideshipping, complete oneshot, nsfw oneshot.]





	Sour Grapes

They played it cool. 

Kaiba met his eyes across the room, and his brain registered _Atem_ long before it registered the slow widening of those sharp eyes that let him know that Atem had recognized him too. 

He was dressed immaculately, for once. The strict formal attire rules on the cardstock invitation had clearly been followed, and Kaiba was impressed to see that Atem hadn’t cut any corners— his tie was appropriately pressed snug against the dip in the hollow of his throat, his shirt was buttoned to the collar, and his suit was perfectly tailored to fit the lean lines of his taut body. The cut of the jacket accented the breadth of his shoulders, and Kaiba remembered all too well how it felt to dig his fingernails into those wide shoulders and firm biceps when Atem kissed him. 

He could feel those deep crimson eyes burning a hole into his side, and when he looked over his shoulder, he locked gazes with Atem.

Wordlessly, he raised the flute of champagne to his lips, sipped and swirled the bubbly wine on his tongue, knowing all the while that Atem’s eyes were locked on him and he could see every subtle movement, right down to the sensual swipe of his tongue across his lips to catch every drop of golden liquid. 

He hadn’t ever expected to run into Atem at this event. Or at any event, really, but least especially one hosted by Industrial Illusions in joint with KaibaCorp to celebrate the launch of a new mobile gaming app. 

The advent of cellphone app technology had provided the opportunity for KaibaCorp to expand into the mobile gaming industry, and the launch had been one of the most anticipated events of the year, but it had never even crossed his mind to think that he would find himself reunited with his ex at such a place after deliberately avoiding any place that was even vaguely reminiscent of him for an entire year.

Kaiba combed his fingers through his hair, styled in a way that was swept up off his brow to reveal his high forehead. It lent vertical symmetry to his face, balancing out his long jaw and the delicate jut of his chin, and he knew it had to be the reason Atem did a double-take.

Hesitation flickered across his features, and he set down his half-full glass of what appeared to be red wine. Tentatively, he took a few steps forward in Kaiba’s direction, his shy intentions clear.

Kaiba met his gaze coolly, and without changing his expression, he turned on his heel and walked away. 

There was a crowd of investors standing beside the ornate indoor fountain, shaped like a cherubim, per Pegasus’ tacky, exuberant tastes, and he approached them with a polite smile that was all too fake, but perfectly shaped from years of coaxing partners into business.

His presence immediately drew attention. 

“Mr. Kaiba! A pleasure for you to join us tonight!” 

One young investor, likely the heir to a wealthy older father’s company, shook his hand with a wide, beaming grin. Kaiba returned it mildly, and from of the corner of his eye, he could make out the unmistakable sight of Atem’s hair hovering just outside the line of his vision. 

His fake smile became just a touch more genuine. 

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Kaiba lied smoothly, and angled his body until Atem disappeared from his sight. 

He could see the cute pink blush forming on the young man’s face, and he suspected it was thanks to more than just the wine. Kaiba studied his face a moment longer, deciding that his features were handsome, if not conventional, before he used his outer-facing arm to touch the man’s wrist lightly. 

He couldn’t see if Atem was looking, but he could practically feel that gaze glaring heavily at his exposed hand. 

Kaiba made the mistake of briefly looking over his shoulder. _Bingo_. 

Atem was staring at him with an all too-familiar expression, eyes narrowed and seething with unrestrained jealousy and resentment, and a newfound look of bitterness— that one was a new emotion, Kaiba mused, and the pleasure must have shown on his face. 

Atem’s expression changed from one second to the next. Recognition flashed across his face, and in the brief second it took to tilt his face and calculate Kaiba’s actions, his expression transformed from confused to crafty and annoyed, as he seemed to recognize the nature of this undeclared game. His eyes narrowed and his mouth twitched into a tight line, and Atem turned, casting a brief, dark look over his shoulder, this time directed toward the man in front of Kaiba, before he began to approach another circle clique of investors just across the room. 

Kaiba watched, attention diverted from the handsome investor in front of him, until he felt fingertips gently touch the inside of his wrist. 

“Mr. Kaiba?”

Kaiba blinked and jerked, and in that one split second he lost sight of Atem. He suppressed the urge to turn around and look for him wildly, and cleared his expression to put on the rehearsed smile and turn the full force of it toward his investor.

“I’m at a disadvantage. I didn’t catch your name.”

His face brightened, warm brown eyes brightening and crinkling attractively at the corners. “Yamazaki Nao. You conduct business with my father, Yamazaki Ryuugi.”

“That explains it.”

Yamazaki tilted his head curiously, clearly not following. Kaiba leaned in conspiratorially.

“I would have remembered previously meeting you.”

He blushed, and the smirk on Kaiba’s face became smug, until he looked over Yamazaki’s shoulder and spotted Atem. 

He had walked into a crowd of investors as well, and Kaiba could see that time had changed him in some ways. He didn’t stood aloof awkwardly, for lack of anything to say, ill at ease among businessmen with whom he had nothing in common. Instead he talked actively, and light, respectful touches to elbows and wrists made the women in his circle blush visibly across the room. He was winning the crowd, and it put a sour taste in Kaiba’s mouth.

Kaiba watched with a sinking stomach as Atem smiled and gestured confidently for a server to replace a woman’s empty champagne flute, touching her arm flirtatiously when she raised her glass in toast to him.

Atem understood the nature of the game perfectly. 

Kaiba’s jealousy grew until Atem looked up, meeting his eyes directly, and to the oblivion of those around him, smirked. 

That was as much of a challenge as anything else. The sweet, lingering flavor of the expensive champagne abruptly tasted sour.

Kaiba boldly took Yamazaki by the elbow, and he prayed that he wasn’t wrong in his assessment of character. Yamazaki briefly stiffened in surprise, and just when Kaiba was going to release him with an apology, he tentatively closed a hand over the fingers on his elbow and beamed at him in secret understanding. 

His shy smile was so genuine, Kaiba almost felt a twinge of remorse for the inevitable rejection awaiting Yamazaki at the end of the night. 

It wasn’t enough to make him care. His own smile remained as rehearsed as it was when he stood in front of cameras to unveil projects and promote new products, and his touches remained light, cordial— a touch to the inside of his wrist, or the occasional brush of his fingers to his lower back. 

He treated it as nothing more than another business interaction, but it was enough to keep Atem’s attention on him the entire time. 

The soft melody of the music played by the orchestra in the corner of the room began to chip away at Kaiba’s nerves, and the quiet murmur of the talking crowds, occasionally broken by a peal of phony, pretentious laughter, became overwhelming. Kaiba’s head pounded at the temples and he excused himself for another glass of wine, not waiting for a response before he broke away from the crowd and walked quickly away from the tight circle of investors. 

Yamazaki looked after him confused, clearly yearning. Kaiba ignored him and ducked through one of the exits to the ballroom and onto the balcony. 

The cool night air hit his face and chilled his cheeks, a breath of wind sweeping across and brushing fallen strands of hair away from his forehead. It cooled the sweat he hadn’t even felt on his brow, and he sighed in relief, comforted by the silence outside. 

He sipped from the final dregs of his champagne in his glass, twirling the delicate stem in between his fingers, before he heard the sound of his footsteps, light and steady, drawing closer. 

He didn’t turn, simply studied the refraction of light bouncing off the polished glass in his hand, until Atem’s shadow passed over the light, cutting off the gleam in his glass. Kaiba calmly set the emptied flute down and waited.

Atem made the first move, surprised him by saying, in that familiar sensual, growly deep voice, “I didn’t expect to see you here, Seto.”

The name slipped off Atem’s tongue with ease. He approached with muted confidence, propping his elbows atop the elegant balustrade and leaning in close enough that the scent of his cologne, unchanged and so painfully familiar, reached Kaiba’s nose. The nostalgia and desire overwhelmed him, hitting him so hard and so fast that he nearly had to take a step back to regain his equilibrium.

“Seto?”

“ _Kaiba_.” Kaiba’s fingers tightened around the stem of his glass and he hurriedly tried to regather his thoughts. “I was about to say the same thing.” 

Atem shoved his hands into his pockets and looked up at Seto with that familiar smirk, the insolent curl of his lips that always made Kaiba want to grab him by the hair and pull him into a deep kiss, full of teeth and sharp bites to that plump lower lip, in order to wipe it off his face. 

He resisted the carnal urge, merely traced the rim of his glass with an elegant fingertip and stared intently at every place other than that provocative mouth. 

“If I had known you were going to be here, I never would have agreed to attend this third-rate reception,” he said sourly. 

Atem's smirk became a full-blown grin. “Still as condescending as ever, aren’t you, Seto?” 

Kaiba returned the wry smile. “Still the same _workaholic_ with no time for useless events.”

“I see… The same workaholic with no time for...what was it you called it? _Useless relationships_.”

Kaiba didn’t respond. He produced a cigarette from his lapel pocket and raised it to his lips, smoked in silence for a few minutes, until his nerves calmed and the near imperceptible tremor in his hands disappeared.

“Nice hair,” Atem said offhandedly. “It suits you.”

Kaiba flicked the dead cigarette butt over the edge of the railing. He didn’t say a word, merely looked at Atem with a steady gaze, watched him step forward with confident, measured footsteps until he stood close enough that Kaiba had to either step back or allow their legs to brush together intimately. 

He didn’t step back.

Atem’s thigh nudged in between his own, warm and solid. 

“Who’s your new friend?” Atem asked delicately. His tone was light, friendly, but there was tension hidden beneath the calm surface of his voice. “He seemed like a nice guy.”

Kaiba looked down, tried to gauge the emotion in his eyes, but the light streaming out from the windows wasn’t strong enough to reach them. The nighttime darkness outside shielded Atem’s face. 

“What was his name?”

“Why do you need to know?” 

“I don’t. I was just asking.”

“Nao.”

Atem looked at him strangely. “Yes, now.”

Kaiba shook his head with a roll of his eyes and looked over his shoulder at the waterfront that sparkled and reflected the clear moonlight below them. 

“His name is Yamazaki. He’s one of my longtime partners. In business, of course.”

Atem’s eyes flitted to the side and his lips tightened into a fine line. “Business partners. It looks like this _Yamazaki_ gets more than just a handshake at the end of the night.”

Kaiba cast a moody look over his shoulder. “What does it matter to you? You’re not involved.”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Atem shot back, and that made it worse. Kaiba’s temper surged and he straightened to his full height, casting down a scathing look at Atem. 

“Good,” he sneered. “Then stop asking questions that you don’t have any business asking.”

Kaiba all but stormed back into the main hall. His emotions were too transparent— he made an effort to tame the anger showing on his face before snatching a new glass from a server’s tray, not caring that it was red wine rather than champagne, and circling the room to find Yamazaki. 

He downed half the measly amount of wine in the glass in one swallow and felt the burn of the alcohol scalding his throat, painful but gratifying. It grounded him, and out of the corner of his eye, he finally spotted Yamazaki talking to a new crowd of older men. 

_Fucking trust fund baby,_ Kaiba thought maliciously. 

He carefully cleared the contempt from his face and forced a bland smile before rejoining Yamazaki. 

Nao looked up as he approached, clearly pleased by his return, and brazenly placed a hand on the small of Kaiba’s back as soon as he was within reach. 

Kaiba clenched his jaw and wondered how much he would have to tolerate for the sake of this pathetic _game—_ until Atem walked back into the room, and he suddenly wished Yamazaki’s hand was a few inches lower. 

They circled each other the rest of the night. It wasn’t until a woman mustered the audacity to kiss Atem on the cheek that Kaiba hastily excused himself, blatantly lying that he needed to check his phone, before storming out of the hall. 

He didn’t have to turn to know that Atem was watching him, didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know that Atem was following him into the hallway, down the flight of stairs, to the private parlor of the ludicrously big mansion. 

It would take minutes for Kaiba’s limousine to pull up to the entrance of the mansion. He was counting the seconds.

“Seto.”

He ignored Atem.

“Hey, Seto. Look at me.”

Atem’s voice was soft, stern. Kaiba turned reflexively and he hated himself for it. 

“ _What?_ ”

“Do you still have feelings for me?”

Kaiba recoiled violently, as if the Atem had struck him across the face instead of looking at him with bright, vulnerable eyes, guarded, but hopeful. 

“Of course not,” Kaiba spat. “Any feelings I had for you are long dead. I buried them around the same time I threw your shit out of the manor.”

The gleam in Atem’s eyes faded, but it was replaced by a familiar flame. 

“Then why did you look at me like that when that woman kissed me?” Atem demanded, and when he didn’t receive an immediate answer, his mouth twisted into a grimace. “After all these years, you still don’t know how to tell me what you feel.”

“What do you want me to tell you, Atem? That I _missed_ you?” 

An incredulous, harsh bark of laughter ripped from Kaiba’s throat and he bared his teeth in an ugly leer. “Is that what you want to hear?”

Atem flinched and looked away, the emotions boiling under his skin and manifesting in a dark, angry flush across his cheeks.

“No, tell me! Do you want to hear that I missed you, that you left on a bad night and that the fight never should never have happened? That I thought about you every single day for the last year?” 

Kaiba growled and kicked at the hideously tacky rug. “Do you want me to tell you I still _love_ you?” 

Atem tensed, and Kaiba knew he had struck something. He tore at his own palms, fingernails digging painfully into his tender skin to keep from shoving at Atem’s shoulder. 

“ _Well I don’t_ ,” he hissed. “I wish I had never seen you again. I hate you, I _despise_ y—” 

Atem grabbed him by the face, cupping his cheeks almost painfully between his strong hands, and brought Kaiba’s lips crashing down onto his own. 

Kaiba’s surprise was quickly forgotten when he felt the familiar sensation of those soft, full lips across his own, but the tenderness was short-lived. They kissed furiously, making up for the lost feelings of the last year, kissing with an anger and a desperation that was unfamiliar, but the touch of their lips and the shapes of their mouths and the movement they fell into was as natural as if there had never been a break between them. 

Atem’s mouth slotted perfectly over his own and he still knew to swipe his tongue over the small dip in the center of Kaiba’s upper lip, knew that biting down on his plump lower lip would never cease to make him breathe out a moan of pleasurable discomfort, just as Kaiba knew that his hands belonged at the sides of Atem’s neck, fingers caressing the sensitive nape of his neck in a way that made him shiver and hold him tighter, closer. 

Kaiba exhaled heavily through his nose, felt Atem do the same and moan into his mouth, tongue teasing behind his teeth and flicking playfully at the roof of his mouth. Atem’s arms snaked around his neck, pulling him in closer, and Kaiba dropped his hands to that lithe little waist, holding him tight and feeling Atem tense wonderfully beneath him.

Atem’s warm breath fell across his lips when he pulled away, and Kaiba’s eyes crossed when he tried to focus on the heavily-lidded eyes directly in front of him. He could feel the hardness of Atem’s erection pressing into his thigh and it stopped his mind in its tracks.

“Let’s leave this shitty party,” Atem murmured against his lips, and Kaiba found himself nodding in agreement without even thinking. “Just let me tell Pegasus I’m leaving—”

“Fuck Pegasus,” Kaiba growled, digging his fingers into Atem’s waist, frustrated by the layers of fabric that stood in the way of touching his bare skin. “Let’s go.”

They could hardly keep their hands to themselves in the limo. Kaiba would be grateful that the partition glass was tinted and the backseat of the car was soundproof when he had enough sense to be ashamed the next morning— when Atem’s tongue wasn’t in his mouth, easily coaxing soft noises from behind his nose and a gross grunt when their lips collided painfully in their desperation to draw their bodies even closer than their clothing would permit. He would care when he wasn’t preoccupied with trying to rile Atem with his lips and teeth, receiving in turn heavy petting that made it difficult for the two of them to stumble out of the limousine once it parked in front of the mansion, aching in their trousers and so hard that it was an agony to wait until they reached Kaiba’s bedroom. 

Kaiba yanked at the collar of Atem’s surprisingly well-tailored black silk dress shirt, carelessly bursting the delicate milky-white buttons to expose the broad expanse of his chest. He didn’t hesitate to press his mouth just below the sharp lines of his collarbones, felt the warmth of his body burning hot under his lips, and his tongue flicked out shyly to taste the tart tang of sweat on his skin. He could feel Atem’s chest rising and falling heavily beneath his touch and he pressed his hand against the swell of his pectoral, forcing him to fall back onto the bed with an easy push. 

Kaiba clambered on after him, sinking his knees into the mattress on either side of those narrow hips, and Atem’s hands didn’t spare a second before reaching out to strip and to touch. He raised his hands Kaiba’s waist, sliding under the thin cotton undershirt to caress his naked shirt, and Kaiba arched his back gracefully, pushing into his hands, even though his mouth didn’t stop kissing Atem furiously for a single second. 

Atem kissed back just as heatedly, and Kaiba moaned into his mouth when he felt those strong hands squeeze at his waist in clear warning, fingers digging into the sensitive spots beneath his ribs, just hard enough to ache, rather than tickle. 

“Animal,” Kaiba muttered when he had the chance, and as if to prove him right, Atem yanked him down and rolled them over in one fluid motion, gaining the upperhand and an embarrassed yelp in the process. 

Kaiba could see the tantalizing tent in Atem’s tight trousers and his bit his lip in anticipation. Atem noticed, and his smug grin made Kaiba want to leave him hot and bothered, cruelly riled up and without release.

Atem smoothly rolled off his tight pants, which Kaiba could now see were in fact extremely dark denim, and just as he was going to sneer _nice outfit, loser_ , Atem derailed his train of thought by palming him over his own slacks, the ball of his palm rolling over his erection and painfully chafing him with the zipper. 

Kaiba hissed and bucked into his elegant hand, and he helped Atem divest him of his designer slacks by raising his hips and allowing the beautifully-tailored clothing to be slid off his body and thrown onto the floor carelessly. 

Atem’s lips came down softly on his while his hands became occupied with stripping him of his underwear. Atem kissed him tenderly, and Kaiba stiffened, made a noise of displeasure against his mouth and growled, pushing him way. 

“Don’t kiss me like that. You don’t deserve to kiss me like that, like you _care_ ,” he spat, and Atem looked hurt and confused, before his expression darkened. 

“ _I_ don’t deserve to kiss you?” he repeated incredulously. His hands tightened, perhaps unconsciously, and Kaiba squirmed in discomfort. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Seto!”

Kaiba stared at him defiantly, and when he didn’t look away, challenging Atem’s gaze, Atem’s eyes narrowed into a glare and this time, the way his hands tightened into a bruising grip was intentional. Kaiba’s eyes darted to the shift in the defined muscles of Atem’s arm, and it was the only warning he had before Atem flipped him over onto his back without so much as a grunt of effort. 

His eyes were blazing, the crimson of his irises fiery as if lit from within, and he sat between Kaiba’s legs, held apart by the two hands on his inner thighs. 

“Why do you say that as if it was my fault?” Atem demanded.

Instead of answering, Kaiba placed a hand on the back of Atem’s head, threading his fingers through his hair and scratching his nails against the tender nape of his neck, and pulled him into a kiss. Atem exhaled sharply through his nose, clearly exasperated, and he retaliated by clapping a hand onto Kaiba’s thigh loudly— startling him into a moan that Atem eagerly swallowed. 

They kissed heatedly, and Atem forgot all about his question when he occupied himself with placing his hands on Kaiba’s hips and guiding them to rock against his own, frotting against him until the beads of precum trailed down to form a mess on the soft trail of hair beneath Kaiba’s navel.

Kaiba made a noise of compliant when Atem stopped, but his annoyed, discontented expression quickly melted away when Atem lewdly licked his palm and began to jerk him off, adding to the slick, sweet friction of his own leaking dick. 

He couldn’t remember the last time he had been touched by someone other than himself. It didn’t take long before Kaiba’s toes curled and his soft, unsteady breathing became a harsh, stuttered _“Ah, ah, ah-tem!”_

He could feel the heat rising and coiling in his belly, but just before he felt the pleasure wash over him, Atem stopped and he sat back on his heels, looking down at Kaiba with an unmistakably turned-on expression. Kaiba might have worried that Atem was going to turn the tables on _him_ and leave him pent-up and frustrated, were it not for his deeply flushed cheeks and the way that Atem’s pupils were so dilated, the crimson rings of his irises were narrow and nearly imperceptible in the dim light of the room. 

“Why did you stop?” he panted. 

“I didn’t want you to cum,” Atem said wryly. “It’s too soon.”

Kaiba watched through heavily lidded eyes as Atem returned the attention back to his own pleasure, jerking himself off with slow, steady motions of his hand, fucking into the circle of his thumb and forefinger. Kaiba couldn’t bring himself to look away from the sight of Atem’s hand wrapped around his cock, moving in languid jerks, thumb moving over the tip to spread the fluid gathering at the slit.

The sight made his mouth water with arousal, and Kaiba wasn’t sure whether he would prefer to sit back and watch or crawl forward to suck Atem off. 

Atem decided for him. 

“Come here,” he instructed. 

Kaiba shivered at the timbre of his voice and gave himself a weak tug on his own cock before sitting upright and adjusting himself so that his face was level with Atem’s pelvis. 

He hesitated a moment, suddenly shy, until he felt Atem’s fingers curl in his hair and tighten, making his scalp tingle pleasurably.

“I know it’s not the first time you’ve sucked a dick,” he taunted, and pressed the tip of his cock to the corner of Kaiba’s mouth. “Far from it. Treat me how you would’ve treated _Yamazaki_.”

With a burst of resentment and feeling thoroughly humiliated, Kaiba reached out to grab him by the base and seal his lips over the tip, hollowing his cheeks with a hard suck and delighting in the hoarse shout that immediately came from above his head. 

Atem’s hips twitched forward and Kaiba stilled him with a hand, holding him in place and digging his nails meanly into his hip every time he tried to push against him to chase the warm, wet heat of his mouth. Kaiba worked at his own pace, elegant fingers wrapping neatly around the length he couldn’t quite fit in his mouth, and his tongue teased circles around the sensitive head of his dick. 

Atem moaned deep in his throat, overwhelmed by the sensation of that silky tongue padding against the tip, and his fingers scratched against Kaiba’s scalp appreciatively before sliding down to cup his cheeks. He could feel the outline of his own dick sliding inside the pocket of Kaiba’s cheek, and he swiped his thumb over it, earning a dirty, cross-eyed glare in the process and a vindictive warning scrape of Kaiba’s lower teeth against his against his shaft. 

He shuddered, and all too well-acquainted with Kaiba and his ruthlessness, moved his hands back to his hair. 

Kaiba’s open jaw began to ache and he exhaled sharply through his nose, felt the saliva pooling under his tongue and threatening to spill messily onto his lips and chin. He licked up the vein of his cock, resting his tongue at the head, tonguing the slit, tasting precum, and the tip of his tongue dug right into Atem’s slit. His lips pursed around the head as if he was pressing a kiss to it, he sucked, and from the strangled cry of his name, he knew that Atem was close. 

To Atem’s dismay, he pulled off with a wet pop, resurfacing with a languid lick of his lips and heavily flushed cheeks.

His own cock felt heavy between his thighs. Atem distracted him from it by cupping his face in between his wide palms and pulling him up into a frenzied kiss, raising him into kneeling position so that their torsos rubbed smoothly against each other and Kaiba could feel his hard, slick erection sliding against the inside of his thigh. 

Atem’s tongue dipped between his teeth and teased out a moan, and Kaiba allowed his hands to roam the broad expanse of his back, scoping out muscle and sinking into the tender spot in the center of his spine. Atem shuddered violently in his hands and Kaiba took advantage, guiding him onto his back, so that he could plant himself on the bridge of his hips. 

He looked down at Atem and tucked a honey blond bang behind his ear with deceptive gentleness. 

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you beneath me. Though we both know that’s all you’ve ever been.” 

“Kaiba—”

“Spare me the pathetic sob story. Listen closely. You’re going to get me off and then get out of my life.” 

The crescents of Atem’s fingernails burned against the tender skin of his inner thighs, but he didn’t flinch. Atem looked ready to protest but he swallowed his words and surged up, sitting upright with Kaiba planted firmly in his lap. 

“You stubborn son of a bitch. You haven’t changed at all,” he growled, hands groping at Kaiba’s ass and parting his cheeks. His middle finger traced the delicate rim and with added pressure, he worked his finger in dry to the first knuckle. Kaiba made a pitiful noise in the back of his throat and Atem grinned into his shoulder. 

“Well, at least some things haven’t changed.” 

“Like how you manage to get on every single last nerve,” Kaiba snapped, pride and resentment surging. “And how you’re nothing but incompetent.”

He sucked two fingers into his mouth, his intentions clear, and Atem watched him through heavily lidded, lusty eyes, teeth sinking into his plush lower lip. Kaiba looked at him smugly, but before he could finger himself to prove a point, Atem was pushing him out of his lap and onto his knees.

He grabbed a handful of Kaiba’s ass and gave it a hard squeeze, clapping his other hand onto the opposite cheek and spreading him open, exposing his hole to the cool air and sending a violent shudder shooting down Kaiba’s spine. 

“Is this what you wanted?” he mocked, his thumb circling his tight hole lewdly. “This is what you were chasing after the entire damn night.”

Kaiba heard the click of a bottle cap popping open and then felt Atem’s fingers, covered in cold lube, pressing against his rim. His breath snagged in his chest but he didn’t dare breathe, terrified that he might whine or even moan, and he clenched his pillow in an iron grip. 

Atem fingered him open, one slick finger quickly becoming two and crooking inside him and scissoring him until another could fit beside them. It was a tight squeeze and Kaiba felt the ache of being stretched open, groaned deep in his throat and buried his face into the crook of his own elbow. 

Atem smoothed a hand down the small of his back and he bent into the touch, earning a warm laugh. 

“I didn’t forget how much you liked that.” 

A third finger slipped inside, adding to the dull ache, and Kaiba felt the sweat forming on his brow. Atem’s fingers were thick, preparing him for something even thicker, and it felt as if Atem was spreading and crooking his fingers for hours. Kaiba’s legs trembled, and by the time he was ready three minutes later, he felt that he had never been stretched wider in his life, and he wasn’t even filled yet. 

Atem sat back and admired his handiwork. 

“You like that, don’t you? Tell me how much.” 

Instead, Kaiba muttered _shut up_ into his own forearm, swallowing down a moan when Atem’s fingers crooked inside him and pressed directly into his prostate. 

“Fuck!” he cried, and heaved out a gasp, feeling his legs tremble. If he wasn’t already on his knees, he would be sprawled out on his stomach. 

Atem’s fingers stilled for a moment, before cruelly stroking the same spot, not relenting until Kaiba whined shamefully and reached a hand down to jerk himself off. 

Then he withdrew, watched Kaiba’s hole twitch and close prettily around empty air, and waited.

It only took a half-second for Kaiba to spin around furiously. 

“I was close!” 

“So was I,” Atem countered, and he thought he could see tears of frustration in Kaiba’s eyes.

He would see those tears spill soon enough. 

Kaiba surged forward to kiss him furiously, all teeth and tongue and biting, until Atem’s lips felt tender and raw. Suddenly he found himself pushed onto his back, and he was looking up at Kaiba, slightly surprised, until Kaiba sank down on his erection with a moan, and his mind went completely blank. 

Kaiba’s legs trembled at either side of Atem’s hips and it took every ounce of strength in his body to remain upright. His chest rose and fell with every breath, and he could feel the tension building in his legs from the uncomfortable position— Atem was so damn short, Kaiba’s legs were folded painfully beneath him and he bore his full weight down on them, sending pins and needles shooting through his muscles. 

Still, it was worth the way Atem looked at him in awe and pressed the flat of his palm over his abdomen, in every respect looking like a man ready to worship the sight in front of him. 

Kaiba didn’t give him the chance. He rocked forward slowly, getting a feel for the ache inside him, and he watched Atem’s lips part to mouth a curse and gasp, hands clenching at the sheets before he thought the better of it and raised them to hold tight to Kaiba’s hips. 

Those same hands on his hips guided him, helped him begin to rise and fall on Atem’s lap, bringing him to a slow, cautious rhythm that made him ache and moan miserably, unsatisfied by the angle and the depth. 

“Wait, wait—”

Atem exhaled sharply and held him still, and for once, they were on the same page. Kaiba raised himself up on his trembling knees and Atem slipped out from under him, quickly taking place behind him and drawing their bodies close. 

“Wait, I...I want to see you.” 

Kaiba turned so that he could see the slope of his nose turned up in profile. 

“I don’t want to see you,” he said coldly. “Or hear you, for that matter. Get on with it.”

Atem visibly struggled to understand what Kaiba was saying, before his expression darkened. 

“Charming as ever,” he growled. He could feel the annoyance spiking in his gut, momentarily lapsing over his own arousal, and he raked his fingers through his hair angrily. “If you _hate_ me so much, we shouldn’t do this.”

That made Kaiba pause and look back at him fiercely. 

“No, it means we should get it over with even more quickly so that you can fuck off back to wherever you came from.”

“You’re the one who _told_ me to fuck off!”

Kaiba didn’t respond. Atem’s frustration boiled over. 

“You left me!” Atem punctuated each word with a thrust, thighs slapping violently against Seto’s bare ass, one hand holding tight to his hip, his fingers digging into his skin hard enough to bruise. “You broke my heart, you asshole! And you didn’t even have the decency to apologize!”

The accusation was enough to force Kaiba to raise his head off the pillow, hair sticking up from his sweaty forehead in a disarray, mouth turned into an angry scowl. His entire body swayed and jerked with the force of Atem’s blunt thrusts and he keened deep in his throat, erection leaking precum into the tangled sheets beneath him.

Kaiba reached between his legs to tug on his own cock, matching the pace of Atem’s thrusts to the speed of his hand, and he moaned, feeling ever single sensation on his body, felt the pinpricks of his hard nipples snagging on the blanket and the sore stretch of his tight hole, and the hand guiding Atem’s thrusts on his hip. 

The pleasure from earlier returned in a rush, and Kaiba choked out a broken sob. His thumb rolled over the slick head of his cock and he felt the precum dribbling from the tip, used it as lube to jerk himself off, fist moving furiously over his erection. 

“ _Ah_ \- Atem!”

“So _noisy_ , Kaiba,” Atem taunted cruelly, delighted, listening to Seto’s cries and the way he tried to stifle his own shameful gasps in vain. 

Atem pounded into him, hit his prostate directly, and Kaiba came with a broken sob that resembled his name. He didn’t even feel his orgasm approaching, simply felt a powerful shudder rip through his body and the heat burst from his body, ropes of cum streaking his own abdomen, dripping off the slope of his stomach and onto the bedsheets below as he panted and tried to recover his breath. 

Atem’s thrusts slowed, his hips grinding against Kaiba, milking him him through the violent waves of his orgasm, before abruptly pulling out from him to spurt cum all over Kaiba's back with a hoarse shout. Kaiba shuddered, felt the hot, thick burst trickle wetly down his crease, and buried his face into his trembling arms.

Atem collapsed against him, draping his torso against Kaiba’s back, seemingly uncaring that he was becoming slick with his own fluids. Atem's skin burned feverishly against his and Seto could feel the lazy thrum of his heart pulsing heavily through his chest, the soft, damp puffs of his hot breath warm against his skin, even thought he could feel Atem’s pursed lips press a scathing kiss into his shoulder, until Atem mustered the will to crawl off him and lay beside him, sounding utterly exhausted when he finally opened his mouth again. 

“I hope you don’t regret doing this. I know that I do.” 

He sounded bitter. Kaiba wheezed out a dry, humorless laugh.

“I never regret anything.”

Atem was quiet for a moment, before he shifted, sitting upright and propping himself up on one hand. The other hand pushed through his own hair, throwing his bangs into wilder disarray, before falling and landing on his naked thigh with a quiet slap. 

Kaiba already knew what he was going to ask. 

“You don’t regret anything...not even what happened to us?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Atem’s voice hardened, but didn’t raise. “That night you said that you didn’t have the time for this...for nonsense. You called our relationship a joke, a waste of time and a distraction from work.”

His eyes were just as sad as they were back then. Not teary, not wet— guarded and mournful. But there was a quiet confidence in the way he reached for Kaiba’s hand, as if he knew with certainty that Seto wouldn’t reject his touch. 

His fingers still fit perfectly in the gaps between Kaiba’s own. 

“Why?”

Kaiba stared wordlessly at their interlaced fingers. He could feel the rise and fall of his own chest as he breathed, but he couldn’t get over the sensation that there wasn’t any air in his lungs. 

_Why?_ Atem’s question echoed hollowly in his head over and over. 

_Why?_

He remembered being twenty and foolish and in love. He remembered the ache in his chest every time Atem so much as smiled, and the overwhelming happiness each morning that he opened his eyes to the sight of Atem’s unruly hair flattened against the side of a pillow.

He also remembered being struck by fear, overwhelmed by the threat Atem posed to life he had built for himself. He had felt suffocated by the thought of loving Atem —nevermind that he already _did_ — and he had reached the conclusion that it was the one thing he couldn’t afford. 

He couldn’t afford to love someone, to accept a weakness into his life, someone who made him divide his loyalty to Mokuba and reduce the time he already had to scrounge to spend with him. 

Atem made him complacent. Atem comforted him, made him happy, happier than he could have ever imagined, made him _weak_ and vulnerable and that, above all, made him afraid. 

So he ended it.

Kaiba stared at their interlocked fingers. After a long pause, he drew his hand away and closed it into a tight fist, placing it on his lap. 

“I meant what I said before. You were a liability.” 

Grief and rage contorted Atem’s face.

“Stop _lying_ to me, Kaiba!” he shouted. The sudden furious roar of his voice made Kaiba flinch. “After all these years, just this one time, be honest with me!” 

“Why does it matter?” Kaiba shouted back, voice raising with panic. His voice cracked and he swallowed harshly, nearly choking on the ragged breaths trapped in the hollow of his chest.

He suddenly felt too naked, too vulnerable, and it made his skin crawl. He scanned the floor for his underwear, swung his legs over the edge of the bed, but before he could so much as stand, Atem’s fingers closed on his wrist. 

“Kaiba, please,” Atem pleaded, voice soft and raw, and it made him pause. “Talk to me. Tell me what went wrong.”

“ _Why_?” he demanded again, gritting the word out from behind clenched teeth, and Atem’s fingers loosened their hold on his wrist. 

“Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you this entire time,” Atem answered fiercely, not hesitating for even a second. 

“I don’t see why we have to talk about this,” he said coldly, but his resolve was weakening. The more he thought about it, the more confused he felt. “I’m done with this conversation.”

“Seto—”

“Stop!” he shouted, voice breaking and becoming hoarse, and for once, Atem listened. 

Atem let him go.

“I miss you. I miss touching you and holding you...I miss seeing you and hearing you, and I—” Atem’s voice broke off, and he looked away. “I don’t know _why_ you left.”

They sat in silence for a long moment, neither moving. Kaiba counted the seconds, waited as they passed and turned into minutes, hardly dared to breathe, scared to cut the fragile silence in the room. The sound of his own sharp inhale broke the silence, then the sound of the sheets rustling beneath him as he shifted, drawing closer to pull Atem’s hand into his own. 

Atem looked at their interlaced fingers sadly. 

“Will you ever stop running from me?” he asked in a soft voice.

The vulnerability in his gaze was more than Kaiba could bear. 

He responded by cupping Atem’s face in between his palms and drawing him in for a kiss. His kiss was softer now, more careful, his touch more delicate, more unsure. 

Atem’s hands moved to close gently around his waist, even as he drew away from Seto’s mouth to kiss down the length of his body— ghosting a trail from his lips to his chin, down the slender column of his throat and over the jut of his collarbones. He kissed along the achingly delicate lines of his sternum to his navel, the tip of his tongue circling and dipping into his navel, earning a startled grunt, before he nosed along the faint line of hair leading down from his pelvis, not caring about the cum that had dried on Kaiba's abdomen. 

Then he straightened, sitting up and returning to his lips. 

“Can I touch you?”

Atem kissed him so softly, Kaiba let out a moan louder than he intended. 

Atem teased down the stretch of his inner thigh with his fingers, then with his lips. Kaiba inhaled sharply, and a curious look upward revealed eyelashes fluttering shut and a kiss-bitten mouth caught in a sigh. His hands caressed where his mouth had been, fingernails tentatively digging into the silky soft intimate skin, and when Kaiba moaned, Atem grinned. 

Wordlessly, he worshipped every inch of Kaiba’s endless legs, touching with curious fingers and hands before ghosting over them with his teeth and lips. He could feel every twitch and spasm of slender muscle beneath his hands, and he appreciatively caressed his legs one more time before sliding his palms beneath Kaiba’s ass —small and flat, fitting perfectly within the planes of his palms— and pulling him forward. 

Seto slid unexpectedly onto his back and propped himself up onto his elbows, just in time to see Atem’s face disappear between his legs, and feel the hot, wet slide of his tongue against his hole. 

Atem’s breath fell in warm puffs against the sensitive skin of his taint and Seto keened, toes curling over Atem’s shoulders, heels digging forcefully into his scapulae, sure to leave a bruise. He was mindful of it, tried to ease the pressure off him, but when Atem swirled the tip of his tongue against his rim and pushed into his stretched hole with ease, Seto threw his head back so violently that the rest of his back followed in an elegant arch. 

The noise that escaped him was one he wasn’t sure he had ever made before.

His hips lifted high off the bed. Atem’s hands rose immediately to grab at his ass, holding him against his mouth as he traced gentle circles and lapped at his rim with his tongue. Seto drifted, his entire body coiling and uncoiling, flexing and releasing, writhing against his hands and his mouth. He couldn’t string sentences together or force his mouth to form the words he wanted to cry, could just barely bring himself to chant his name like a prayer, _Atem, Atem, Atem!_

Atem burrowed deep between Seto’s thighs, holding them apart with strong hands when they twitched and tried to close, and he parted him with his tongue, sliding wetly and delving inside, slowly at first, then faster as Kaiba began to unravel.

Atem pulled away and wrapped a hand around Kaiba’s cock, jerking him off, matching the rhythm of his hand to the rise and fall —fast, hard— of Kaiba’s chest.

Seto reached for him, tangling his fingers in the honey blond mess of his bangs, drawing him in and kissing at his mouth without regard for where it had just been. Atem made a noise of surprise, but Kaiba drew his bottom lip between his teeth, biting and sucking on it in an attempt to keep quiet. 

All he could think about was coming hot into Atem’s hand.

“ _Seto_ ,” Atem breathed out, husky and sexy and it drove Kaiba so crazy that he moved his hands up to cover his face with both hands.

“Atem,” Kaiba gasped behind his palms. Atem kissed his knuckles as he kept stroking. 

He could hear Kaiba’s soft panting, the shuddery sighs and moans he tried so hard to hold back, and he drew them out, coaxed those pretty lips into parting and breathing out the cries trapped in his heaving chest. 

Atem’s hand nearly dripped with slick precum and the sore, flushed head of Kaiba’s cock glistened between the circle of his fingers. He suddenly ducked down and sucked the head into his mouth, and with a sudden jerk of his hips and a broken sob, Kaiba came onto his tongue. 

Atem waited patiently and caught every spurt of cum onto his tongue, trapping the heavy, bitter taste in his mouth, and swallowed, forcing an overstimulated gasp from Kaiba when his pursed lips drew pressure on his softening cock. 

Kaiba sank into the mattress, his slender arms falling listlessly to his sides. Atem crawled up the length of his body, pausing to kiss just above his navel, along the jut of the bones of his sternum, ending with a kiss to his chin before falling beside him.

He was pleasantly surprised when Kaiba turned toward him and silently rested a hand on his stomach, fingers caressing along the flat planes of abdomen. 

Slowly, their breathing began to steady, and Atem became convinced that Seto might have even fallen asleep— until he sighed and squirmed his way lower on the bed, not content until his cheek rested against the swell of Atem’s pectoral. 

Atem carded his fingers through Seto’s soft hair, admiring the way that gentle morning light that streamed in through the open windows caught and bounced off his light brown hair. He was so distracted, he almost missed the feeling of Seto’s fingertips forming the shapes of letters against his skin. 

He barely dared to breathe, froze to catch every movement of his finger and decipher the letters.

_M…..…...s…..d….o….u……._

Kaiba started again, tracing the same letters over and over into his skin, until Atem finally pieced it together.

_Missed you._

Kaiba looked up, eyes wide and glassy, pupils blown. He knew what he was doing and he wanted Atem to know too. 

Atem kissed him. Again and again he kissed him.

They lay there a long time after, Kaiba wrapped in his arms, until he made a noise in the back of his throat and struggled to sit up. He propped himself up on his elbow, looking at Atem with a concerned expression.

“You didn’t get off,” he protested. 

Kaiba pushed an elegant hand through the hair hanging in front of his deep blue eyes. Atem followed it with his own, sweeping the hair away from his brow tenderly. It stuck up cutely to the side, damp and dark with sweat, and he combed through it with his fingers fondly. 

“I did,” Atem reassured, his face darkening with an embarrassed blush. 

Kaiba’s wide blue eyes flicked down down to his groin, noted he was soft and tucked back inside the roll of his foreskin, and he looked back, confused. 

“When?”

“Around the same time you did.”

Kaiba looked again, as if he needed confirmation, before he gradually returned to laying beside Atem, close enough that their shoulders brushed, arms extended and fingertips connected. He listened to Atem’s slow and even breathing, felt the warmth from his body even with the space between them, and closed his eyes.

“I thought about that day all the time,” he said suddenly, in a strangely soft voice.

“What?”

“That day. When I said I didn’t want to see you anymore. I thought about that day all the time.”

Ending things with Atem hadn’t made him any happier. It hadn’t lifted the weight off his chest, hadn’t let him breathe any more easily or feel any more free and unburdened— it just made him miss Atem. 

Atem turned, propping himself up on an elbow to look at Kaiba’s face. 

Kaiba couldn't meet his eyes.

“If I had known what I know now...I would have done things differently.”

Atem’s gaze softened, and Kaiba knew that he had been forgiven long before he had even brought himself to give the closest thing to apology he could offer. 

Atem’s hand closed gently around his face, and he closed the distance, pressing his lips to Kaiba’s forehead with such tenderness that the lump in his throat from before made another appearance. Kaiba squeezed his eyes shut, his head dropping into the crook of Atem’s shoulder, where he breathed in his comforting scent and tried to blink past the stubborn tears building at his lashes. 

Atem wasn’t his weakness. Atem allowed him weakness; made him human. 

Made him whole.

“We’ll be fine,” Atem whispered against his hair. “I waited for you. You were worth the wait.”

Kaiba finally swallowed past the lump in his throat and drew away long enough to look into Atem’s eyes. Vivid garnet, so striking and loving and understanding, reflecting the tender smile that Atem gave him. 

Kaiba realized with a jolt that the smile on his own face came naturally. It made his cheeks ache and his nose wrinkle, and he finally sighed,

“We’ll be fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Loved it? Hated it? Let me know what you think!


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